Summary 2013 WY 145

Summary of Decision November 21, 2013

Justice Hill delivered the opinion for the Court. Affirmed.

Case Name: MERIT ENERGY COMPANY v. DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, STATE OF WYOMING

Docket Number: S-13-0056

URL: http://www.courts.state.wy.us/Opinions.aspx

Appeal from the District Court of Sweetwater County the Honorable Nena James, Judge

Representing Appellant: Randy B. Reed; Gregory C. Dyekman; and Kevin Walton of Dray, Dyekman, Reed & Healy, P.C., Cheyenne, WY. Argument by Mr. Dyekman.

Representing Appellee: Gregory A. Phillips, Wyoming Attorney General; Martin L. Hardsocg, Deputy Attorney General; Cathleen D. Parker, Senior Assistant Attorney General; and Karl D. Anderson, Senior Assistant Attorney General. Argument by Mr. Anderson.

Date of Decision: November 21, 2013

Facts: This appeal concerns the 2006 valuation of natural gas from numerous gas wells in Lincoln, Sweetwater, and Uinta counties for which Merit Energy was a take-in-kind owner. The State of Wyoming Board of Equalization (SBOE) determined that Merit Energy failed to timely appeal several final Wyoming Department of Revenue (DOR) decisions regarding the amount of taxable gas it had received, resulting in a lack of jurisdiction by the SBOE. The SBOE dismissed Merit’s tax case with prejudice, and the district court affirmed the SBOE’s dismissal.

Issues: Merit lists three issues on appeal: 1. The Wyoming State Board of Equalization erred when it dismissed Merit Energy Company’s appeal for lack of jurisdiction. 2. The discrepancy letters sent by the Department of Revenue are not final administrative decisions. 3. The notice of valuation change sent by the Department of Revenue is a final administrative decision for purposes of appeal.

The DOR rephrases the issue as follows: Did the mineral assessments constitute final administrative decisions so that Merit had to appeal from them within thirty days and, therefore, did Merit’s delay divest the Board of jurisdiction to hear its eventual appeal?

Holdings/Conclusion: The 2008 tax assessment letters sent by the DOR to Merit Energy were final administrative decisions. Merit had thirty days in which to appeal these decisions and did not do so. We affirm the district court’s decision affirming the SBOE’s dismissal of Merit’s appeal as untimely. Furthermore, we conclude that even if this Court permitted Merit to appeal the Notice of Valuation Change, the doctrine of collateral estoppel precludes Merit from doing so. The underlying taxable value assessments were finalized by the 2008 tax assessment letters. Affirmed.

Summaries are prepared by Law Librarians and are not official statements of the Wyoming Supreme Court

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